Covering Katrina's Aftermath

Getting up at 5 a.m. to meet a 2 p.m. deadline, Biloxi Sun Herald reporter Josh Norman is in the eye of the storm—working 15-hour days covering the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina in the small town of Pass Christian, Miss.

"I knew it was going to be awful,” said Norman, who headed first to Pass Christian knowing it would quickly be isolated when the bridge leading out there would be destroyed.

"It was important to get out there so the people knew they were not forgotten and that news could get out to their families that they were OK,” said Norman. That was August 30.

The 15-mile ride to Pass Christian took two hours in an SUV. He and a photographer drove over a litter strewn road covered with mounds of broken up homes and debris.
Norman and the photographer came upon a woman. She sat outside her ravaged home with the body of her dead baby laying on a stool in the nearby shade.

"It was a tough a situation,” said Norman, who asked the photographer if they could take the woman and the baby to the hospital. "The photographer refused. I understood his reaction,” said Norman. "I walked away and just started to cry.”

It wasn't the first time Norman had seen dead babies. When he was in the Peace Corps, he lived in West Africa where he saw and experienced "extreme poverty.”

"But quite frankly this is going to take forever to process. And I'm not forcing it at all.”

A recent Columbia University graduate, Norman, 27, landed his job at the Sun Herald in June. Norman doesn't hide his emotions. He said he recognizes the need to feel the pain he has witnessed and knows he needs to take care of his own well being.

So when there is "downtime” Norman does his best to make the most of it.

"I make sure I turn my brain off. I play my guitar for one or two hours. Or I see a real stupid movie and just turn it all off.”

Reporting on Hurricane Katrina has given Norman a new found passion for journalism.

"While I was at Columbia it was all about competition and scrambling for jobs. It was more about the industry side. I was very skeptical whether it was a job I wanted to do.”

"I realize now that journalism is crucial,” said Norman, whose reporting has helped get information out to relatives that their kin back in Pass Christian have survived.

Despite being homeless, [his apartment building is being condemned], Norman is staying put living with a friend. "There are a lot more people who have it worse than I do.”

Norman wants to keep reporting now that he has discovered the civic duty of journalism—the essence of a conscientious reporter.